Xploit Machine
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This week Microsoft made a couple of big Windows announcements. First, the company confirmed that Windows 11 is becoming an agentic OS leading to a massive backlash. The company also ended support for Windows 11 version 23H2 and added that all systems will soon be getting the latest 25H2 feature update with just one condition, that they must be supported. The tech giant also made another fairly major change that was not documented by the company in its official release notes. That is because the company has removed a popular offline Windows 11 and 10 hack that was used to illegally activate systems. The method was dubbed KMS38 and was provided by MASSGRAVE.
If you are not familiar, MASSGRAVE (where MAS stands for Microsoft Activation Scripts) is a project that offers various unofficial Windows and Office activation services. KMS38 was an offline activation method that worked by tricking the GatherOSstate EXE file so as to extend the KMS (Key Management Service) activation period up to January 19, 2038, 03:14:07 UTC, instead of the usual 180 days. If you are wondering, the Y2K38 super-bug prevented going further. GatherOSstate essentially helped determine if an OS in its current state is eligible for an upgrade. The MASSGRAVE author has confirmed that this no longer works with the latest November 2025 Patch Tuesday update (KB5068861, KB5067112).
If you are not familiar, MASSGRAVE (where MAS stands for Microsoft Activation Scripts) is a project that offers various unofficial Windows and Office activation services. KMS38 was an offline activation method that worked by tricking the GatherOSstate EXE file so as to extend the KMS (Key Management Service) activation period up to January 19, 2038, 03:14:07 UTC, instead of the usual 180 days. If you are wondering, the Y2K38 super-bug prevented going further. GatherOSstate essentially helped determine if an OS in its current state is eligible for an upgrade. The MASSGRAVE author has confirmed that this no longer works with the latest November 2025 Patch Tuesday update (KB5068861, KB5067112).
This was probably already on the cards as MASSGRAVE adds that in Windows build 26040 (released back in January 2024) gatherosstate.exe was removed from installation media. This meant in-place upgrades and feature updates reset the grace period to zero, requiring reconnection to a KMS server. And with last month's Windows 11 optional update (KB5067036), Microsoft has fully deprecated the GatherOSstate functionality, making KMS38 unusable. Thus with the latest MAS script, version 3.8, KMS38 has now been dropped entirely. MASSGRAVE says that users should switch to HWID (Hardware ID) or TSforge activation methods, both of which still work.